High speed stacker

Abstract

A high speed stacker for grouping small tablets or similar products utilizes a vertically oriented tumble wheel having peripheral pockets for carrying the products serially between a receiving point and a discharge point. At the discharge point, the products are unloaded onto a stacking tray by means of a pair of stacking wheels on opposite axial sides of the tumble wheel. The stacking wheels are driven rotatably in opposite directions about axes lying in a plane generally tangent to the tumble wheel at the discharge point. The stacking tray immediately below the wheels receives the discharged products in series from the stacking wheels and holds them in a stack on a support surface of the tray.

I claim: 
     
       1. A high speed stacker for assembling a group of individual products in series comprising: input feeding means for feeding the individual products sequentially along a product feed path;   a tumble wheel mounted for continuous rotation about an axis along the product feed path of the input feeding means with the wheel generally tangent to the path at a receiving point, the wheel containing a plurality of product-receiving pockets on the periphery of the wheel, each pocket having a peripheral opening facing radially outwardly for individually receiving a product transmitted along the feed path to the receiving point of the wheel and carrying the individual product about the wheel to a discharge point arcuately displaced from the receiving point;   guide means circumscribing the periphery of the tumble wheel between the receiving point and the discharge point for holding the products in the individual pockets of the wheel during arcuate displacement in the continuously rotated tumble wheel;   a stacking tray projecting away from the tumble wheel at the discharge point on the periphery of the tumble wheel, the tray defining a support surface for holding the products discharged from the tumble wheel in a stack; and   two stacking wheels positioned in spaced relationship and at opposite sides of the tumble wheel at the discharge point, the wheels being rotatably driven in opposite directions about parallel axes lying in a plane generally parallel to the axis of rotation of the tumble wheel at the discharge point, and being positioned to engage an individual product in a pocket and pull the product through the peripheral opening of a pocket toward the stacking tray.   
     
     
       2. A high speed stacker as defined in claim 1 further including a pressing wheel rotatably driven about an axis parallel to the axis of the tumble wheel and positioned generally tangent to the tumble wheel at the receiving point to urge the products from the feeding means into the pockets of the tumble wheel. 
     
     
       3. A high speed stacker as defined in claim 2 wherein the input feeding means includes a feed wheel disposed in a plane generally perpendicular to the tumble wheel and the pressing wheel and tangent to the tumble wheel at the receiving point. 
     
     
       4. A high speed stacker as defined in claim 1 further including a drive motor and drive mechanism connected between the motor and the tumble wheel and the stacking wheels to synchronously rotate the wheels. 
     
     
       5. A high speed stacker as defined in claim 1 wherein the parallel axes of the stacking wheels lie in a plane generally tangent to the tumble wheel at the discharge point. 
     
     
       6. A high speed stacker as defined in claim 1 further including conveyor means cooperating with the stacking tray for moving the stacked products away from the discharge point on the tumble wheel. 
     
     
       7. A high speed stacker as defined in claim 6 wherein: the stacking tray is comprised of split, parallel rails spaced from each other by an amount less than the width of the products stacked on the tray; and   the conveyor means includes a pushing finger projecting through the spacing between the parallel rails to engage the stacked products.   
     
     
       8. A high speed stacker as defined in claim 1 wherein: the tumble wheel is rotatably mounted about a horizontal axis situating the wheel below the product feed path of the feeding means and tangent to the path at a receiving point on the upper portion of the wheel; and   the two stacking wheels are positioned at a discharge point located approximately 90° from the top of the tumble wheel and the stacking wheels are rotatably driven about vertical axes at opposite sides of the tumble wheel.   
     
     
       9. A high speed stacker as defined in claim 8 wherein the stacking tray has a horizontal support surface positioned immediately below the two stacking wheels for receiving and holding the discharged products in a stack. 
     
     
       10. A high speed stacker as defined in claim 1 wherein the two stacking wheels have spaced peripheral teeth which are positioned and rotated by the stacking wheel to pull the product from a pocket of the tumble wheel.